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Sunday, October 3, 2010

I have officially moved to my new blog. Once again, it is at http://kiwisst.blogspot.com/. Thanks for your support. I will be posting there from now on, so this is my last post on this blog. I will not be shutting down this blog, so you still can come here to look at my old posts. This is how my new blog looks like:

Thursday, September 30, 2010

From 2011 onwards, I will start using that blog. (I may still use this blog, will confirm)For now, I will stick with this blog. I will post some stuff on the other blog too, don't forget to check it out

To be exact, it is 5 days to my first PSLE paper. I feel more or less ready for my science, english and math, but I do feel a little stressed about my chinese subject. (MY CHINESE SUCKS) To improve my chinese, my mom has been going through chinese sentence structures and phrases and giving me assessment. She promised me $200 dollars in cash if I get an A for chinese.(75% and above). My chinese is really terrible.

Well, I should be going to study for my PSLE now. Like this post if you think that I should NOT study during the last 3 days before exam. Dislike this post if you think otherwise.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Yet another week has gone by. I have about 13 days left to PSLE. I hope that it comes quickly, so that I can quickly put an end to my worries of feeling that I have not studied enough. (Probably to play a lot as well, hehe) This is the homework for the weekend:

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Recently, I have been interested in LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) and how they work.

LEDs are semiconductor light sources. They are usually used as indicators in devices, but now they are increasingly used for lighting. They were introduced in 1962 and have been further developed since then. Early LEDs were dim and did not last as long as they do these days.

When a LED is switched on, electrons recombine with holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of protons, which release light energy. A LED is usually small in size. They have many advantages over normal light sources, such as lower energy consumption, a smaller size, faster switching and a greater durability than light bulbs.

Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as replacements for aviation lighting and in traffic signals. The compact size of LEDs has allowed new text and video displays and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are useful in advanced communications technology. Infrared LEDs are also used in the remote control units of many commercial products including televisions, DVD players, and other domestic appliances.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Just so you know, I have removed the two videos, "21 Guns" and "Know your Enemy" as I put them on this new widget called "MyPod". It's at the top right hand of the screen, below the "About Me". Enjoy the music!

I'm halfway through the September school holidays. The first three days of the holiday was spent in school for extra lessons for all Primary Six pupils taking PSLE. (Duh, all primary six students have to take PSLE)

On my countdown calendar, it's only 19 days away to PSLE, excluding all weekends, school holidays and public holidays. I feel both excited and fearful at the same time, excited because PSLE is near and once it's over, it's OVER! And fearful because I keep feeling that I haven't studied enough. (And still, here I am, blogging. Oh well.) To ensure that us students receive sufficient revision, the teachers are constantly piling truckloads of homework on us.(That may be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea)

Monday, September 6, 2010

At the beginning of the year, our form teacher, Mrs Tay, opened up an old facility of the school (really old, last time we checked, it was about 20 years old) which is known as the corn plot. It used to be a place for planting seeds for science purposes. When she showed it to us, it was in an unkempt state, with weeds growing everywhere, soil spilled on the pathways, and stuff like that. So Mrs Tay told us it was ours, and she gave us some corn seeds to start with.

After a few periods of weeding, loosening soil and planting, we finally got the corn plot in order. Since then, we would check on the corn plot daily to see how our "crops" were doing. However, we ran into a problem.

On one fine day, my friends and I entered the corn plot and to our horror, we found some of the corn plants crushed! We saw footprints on the soil around the plants and did not take long to figure out that someone stepped on our corn plants. (Probably on purpose, as not many people knew there was a corn plot.) We didn't find out who the culprits were, but we managed to revive some of the obliterated corn plants. To prevent any further mishaps like that, we came up with a solution: Lock the corn plot. (Well, DUH!)

After months of loosening soil, killing pests and watering the plants, we finally saw the fruits of our labour! (Literally) The corn plants had bore corn! However, we did not dare to eat it as we have seen ants and snails crawl over the corn before.

So we just distributed the corn seeds into the soil again and repeated the process. For some reason, not all of the corn seeds germinated! Only some did (Now they're pretty big)

Now you may be thinking, "Growing corn under the hot sun? You kids are crazy!" Well, let me tell you, we had a lot of fun in the corn plot. For example, we found a branch on a tree that had a heavy top and twig stubs on it. (We thought it would make the perfect club) So we used all sorts of methods to get the branch off the tree. For example:

1.Throwing bricks at the branch

2.Using a long metal pole and applying the law of leverage to the branch

3.Stepping on the branch (Two people at one time)

4. Using sticks to whack the branch

However, none of these methods worked. In a desperate attempt, I brought my pocket knife to school and sawed the branch off. When the club came off, we named it "The Clubby Club" and rejoiced by smashing any nearby objects that could be smashed. But to our dismay, the club disappeared about a month later.

Currently, we are taking care of the corn plants and making piles of soil. (And searching for the sacred "Clubby Club")

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

I have just finished reading the book "Halo:The Fall of Reach" by Eric Nylund. It is about a boy called John (also known as The Master Chief) and how he grows up as a Spartan (not the old ones in 300) and how the UNSC ( United Nations Space Command) battle against the ferocious Covenant, which is an alien race. The setting is in the year 2517 to the year 2552.

If you are familiar with the Halo games, you will know the terms the book uses. (Yeah, people who don't play Halo are totally clueless about the terms used in the book.)

The Covenant are an alien race which intends on wiping out mankind. One of them looks like this:

Yup, it looks totally freaky. I recommend this book to anyone interested in science fiction, war or technology.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Ten minutes ago, I discovered that I got into SST! At 2.30, my dad asked me to go to check the mailbox and I found a letter addressed to me. At that moment, I was thinking: "Let me get in! Let me get in! Let me get in!" As I opened the letter, I could feel my heart beating. When I pulled out the letter, my heart almost stopped. "Congratulations!" was the first word on the letter. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and I did a victory dance in the lift.

I feel overjoyed! Now all I have to do is to get into Express stream (PSLE Aggregate:200 and above)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Scientists have used new technology to explore the ocean floor off the coast of Indonesia. There were many interesting pictures of the marine life taken by the scientists, such as this one.

Amazing, huh?

Approximately 50 new plant and animal species were discovered during the three-week expedition. More than 100 hours and 100 000 photographs were taken with HD cameras and were sent to shore through high-speed internet.

The expedition was carried out by a ship which belongs to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (What a mouthful!), which is known as the Okeanos Explorer.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

I decided to post my "It's the weekend today!" now as my mom allowed me to have free time. This is because my PSLE prelims have just ended.

This morning, my friend Benjamin brought his electric guitar to school. I was like, "Wow!" During recess, my group of friends and I went down to the school hall where they keep all the instruments. After rummaging around the hall storeroom, we found a guitar amplifier I could use. When I plugged in the guitar and gave it a strum, I realised something was wrong. I was using a bass guitar amplifier, not an electric guitar one! So after tweaking the sound effects a little, we couldn't get it to sound like a electric guitar, though we got really close. My friends were like "Ah, heck with it, let's just play 21 Guns" And there was another problem too, as the D string was out of tune and the tuning peg for the D string seemed to have been stuck.

So I just played the guitar solo and the background tune. Hopefully, next Tuesday, Nathan will bring his electric guitar which IS in tune and Mr Loh, a teacher, said that he will lend us an electric guitar amplifier.

Anyway, we did get selected for the Teacher's Day concert. And now, I feel both fearful and excited as the results for my SST admission is coming soon, by next Tuesday. Argh! I feel so nervous!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Tomorrow, a group of friends and I are going to audition for the Teachers' Day Concert. So if you are a teacher, STOP READING THIS POST! If you are not, read on...

My friends, Nathan, Clarence and Benjamin, and I are going to audition for the Teachers' day concert. We will be playing the song "21 Guns" by Green Day. As I was saying, if you are a teacher, STOP READING RIGHT NOW! I CAN SEE YOU!

Haha, STOP IT!

Anyway, These are the chords for "21 Guns". Hope I don't screw up.

D minor
B flat
F major
C major

Alright, STOP READING THIS POST! OR ELSE! BECAUSE IT IS THE END OF THE POST!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

This is a video of the Manila Hostage taking. The worst rescue operation I've ever seen...

EPIC FAIL! Especially when those guys are breaking the glass. Why break the glass? Are they going to squeeze through the holes? And they were taking their own sweet time! And they can't throw the tear gas grenade into the bus properly! I've seen roadkill which have better accuracy! In that lousy rescue attempt, 8 tourists on the bus were killed and the rest were injured! Anyway, I think that the Manila police force should improve on their training of policemen, and this should never happen again.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Today, I went with a small group of pupils from my school to watch the preliminary rounds of the equestrian event for the YOG. What is equestrian, you may ask? It is a sport where sportsmen are supposed to ride horses to jump over obstacles. I took some pictures with my mobile phone, here is a short clip on what I saw there.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

ARRGH! In two days from now, I am going to take my PSLE oral examination! Some quick notes for English oral:

When conversing with your oral examiners, remember the following points:
1) Be enthusiastic
2) Speak in complete sentences and try to use appropriate and good words and phrases
3) Be proactive and offer as much relevant information as possible
During picture discussion, do not simply give a description of the picture. Interpret and give your own opinions. Language is also assessed here, so remember to speak in grammatically sound sentences and use phrases such as "in my opinion" etc.

Friday, August 13, 2010

The weekend is here! I took my English and MT listening comprehension and composition during the week, on Thursday and Friday. Well, today has been a tiring day, as I took my MT composition and listening comprehension today, and still had to stay back for supplementary. Then while leaving the school, I realised my wallet was not with me! Panicking, I rushed around the school, combing it for my wallet. After about half an hour, I found it under my desk in the class.

I arrived at home exhausted. After taking a bath and eating dinner, I started writing this post. Well, after this I'm going to rest and watch TV for a while before practicing my MT oral for next week's MT oral PSLE examination. Fortunately, my teachers gave us very little homework. Here's the homework for the weekend:

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I just came back from school. Today was a particularly boring day, as my class did nothing but go through PSLE practice papers. The hot and humid weather in the morning made the class and I drowsy, and we felt really tired. I wish I could take a nap right now, but I can't...lots revision to do.

Fortunately at about 12.55pm, strong winds blew into the class. One of my friends who was very light actually fell to the ground due to the wind! Back then I was jolted awake by the cooling wind. But alas, by then it was near the end of the school day! Well, nothing particular happened today. And by the way, tomorrow is the day of my PSLE Preliminary English composition and listening comprehension.Well, gotta go do my revision! Cheers!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Just a quick update on what has happened. My uncle came on Sunday and gave us a telescope for observing stars (but i used it to spy on other people's televisions. Keke) I have finished all my homework. Well, I'm off to play Plants Vs Zombies now. Happy National Day!

Friday, August 6, 2010

I just came back from the National Day celebrations at my school. They released us early at 11. Speaking about the long weekend, we only have to go back to school on Wednesday. So naturally, my teachers gave me a ton of homework.

Homework:

1.Science Preliminary Practice Paper 5

2.Science Preliminary Practice Paper 6

3.44 Maths Problem Sums

4.Chinese Multiple-choice comprehension

5.Chinese School 4 practice paper

6.English Practice Paper 7

7.Composition 9 (PSLE Booklet)
8.Situational Writing 4 (PSLE Booklet)
I think that's all the homework. I should manage if I do three pieces of homework a day, then I will have a day to rest.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Tomorrow, my school will be holding a National Day celebration. We will have to come to school in red(??), and we will have to sing a couple of Singapore songs such as "Home", "Five Stars Arising", and "Song for Singapore". So one thing I want to say: HAPPY 45th BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!!!

Guess what? Last week, a parcel arrived at my house and when my dad opened it, there was a new, almost-unused Flip MinoHD camcorder!

What is the Flip MinoHD, you may ask?

It is a video camera which has a capability of recording high-definition videos! The one my dad ordered was the first generation camcorder, which has a memory space of 4GB, which allows it to record a 60 minute video!

However, about ten minutes later, another parcel arrived and it was a second-generation Flip MinoHD camcorder, which has a larger screen and a larger memory space of 8GB than its older counterpart. And when we opened it, it was a brand new, unused one!

The Flip MinoHD looks like a handphone, only that it cannot call! (Well, duh) It charges through a USB port.

The 4GB one has a smaller screen than the 8GB one, but however, their functions are more or less the same. The older one has a plastic casing, but the newer one has an airbrushed metal casing! The camcorder has one-touch button functions, and a large, prominent "Record" button. However, i think that the design can be improved by moving the buttons to the lower part of the camcorder, as there is a tendency to touch the lens of the camcorder while using the buttons.

It has a built-in microphone, but i think that the microphone sometimes does its job too well, as you can hear the "fssshhhhh" sound of the background, which may sometimes blot out other sounds, such as someone talking. Sadly, no add-on microphones can be used on the camcorder. Fortunately, it is possible to add a tripod onto the camera.

In conclusion, I feel that it is very simple to operate, and it is very user-friendly. However, the design of the camcorder could be improved. You can get it at major tech stores, such as Challenger for about SGD$249. (I got mine for SGD$80 on ebay.)

The country's worst heatwave on record has seen firefighters battling hundreds of wildfires in a national disaster that has claimed at least 48 lives, left hundreds homeless, and wiped out forests and villages, as well as a military base near Moscow.

Maybe it is one of the effects from the solar flare I mentioned? I think those people in Russia should take anti-heatstroke measures and stay well away from forests that are prone to being set alight by the intense heat from the Sun.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Under Yellowstone National Park in the United States of America lurks a supervolcano so big that it could destroy the world. The volcano reaches into the mantle of the earth, and at the deepest part of the volcano, the magma there boils with an immense temperature approximately 1930 degrees Celsius. According to experts, the smallest eruption from the supervolcano was 280 times more voluminous than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

So far, the volcano under Yellowstone has only erupted three times in the history of the planet, the first 2.1 million years ago, which was the biggest, followed by the second eruption 1.3 million years ago, and the most recent one, which was 640 000 thousand years ago. (Well, not so recent after all) These eruptions are known as prehistoric eruptions. The combined matter from these three events could fill the Grand Canyon in Nevada. The biggest eruption caused dust to be carried by wind around the globe, and ash piled up in drifts across the western half of the U.S. Near the site of the eruption, lava and debris hardened into layers hundreds of feet thick. For years pollutants chilled the climate, devastating ecosystems.

Artist's Rendition of Yellowstone Eruption

According to researcher Alejandro Tumas, it is certain that somewhere in the future, the supervolcano will erupt again, however not during our time. Probably about 100 years down the road, in my opinion. The possibility of a giant asteroid hitting Earth is more likely, though. But they do know that it will erupt, so it's a question of when, not if. However, the largest volcanic eruption is known as the Siberian Traps event, and it occurred 250 million years ago.

According to NASA, a "Solar Tsunami" could hit Earth after a bout of violent space weather by a solar flare from the Sun. The solar "fireworks" were recorded by several satellites on the first of August, 2010. There was an explosion directly above one of the many sunspots on the surface of the Sun. The explosion was aimed directly towards Earth, which led to another even larger explosion across the surface of the Sun, which caused a "Solar Tsunami" flying across 150 million kilometres across space.

Experts said that the wave of supercharged gas was likely to reach Earth by as early as yesterday, and it will buffet the magnetic shield protecting Earth, which will likely cause displays of Aurora or northern lights and southern lights.

However, scientists say that big solar eruptions may destroy satellites or wreck power and communications grids across the globe. Previous reports say that in 2013, the Earth will be hit with high levels of magnetic energy from solar flares caused by explosions from the Sun. From there, the poles of the Earth will be able to see magnificent displays of Aurora.

Solar flares occur when immense magnetic structures in the solar atmosphere lose their stability and are unable to be held down by the Sun's gravitational pull. Just like a spring being released, the solar flare erupts into space. Here's a video of the solar flare that occurred three days back.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Plants Vs Zombies is a game where you are supposed to plant plants on your backyard/roof/lawn which have different abilities that help you destroy zombies that are attacking your house. When a zombie meets a plant, he will eat it and keep walking towards your house, or until you destroy it. You plant plants by collecting sun, which is produced by the sun or sunflowers. Once a zombie eats its way to your house, it will enter the house and the game will say: THE ZOMBIES ATE YOUR BRAINS!

There are many different plants and zombies, like plants that shoot peas, explode, or shield your house from zombies. There are also many zombies, from normal, "garden-variety" zombies to zombies that drive trucks.

Despite it name, it is actually a very cute and child-friendly game. It is a game that requires you to use strategy, for example to plan where you want to place your plants before a zombie eats it, unlike the other mindless, simple games made by Popcap. You should try the trial version, and then leave your verdict of the game in the comments or chatbox!

I just came back from the SST selection camp, and i think that I have a good chance of getting in! First of all, we were split up into groups of 5. Then I had to write a personal statement about why I want to go to SST, and I wrote about three-quarters of a page in that 5 minutes that was assigned to me. So after that, my group was assigned a task.

My group's task was to design a device that allows the user to fish out items from quicksand. Thankfully, the "items" were plastic cups and one unopened mineral water bottle, and there was no quicksand. So we had 5 minutes to come up with a design, 10 minutes to make a decision on the design we wanted, and then 25 minutes to build the device and fish out the "items". So after a discussion, my group decided on a design that "clicks" on to the "item". So it worked pretty well, but when it came to the plastic bottle, we had a problem. The device wouldn't "click" to the bottle as it had no opening. So I came up with an idea to use mailing labels to stick the bottle to the device, and fortunately, it worked!

I felt that my group was cooperative, they listened and respected others' ideas and we worked pretty well together. So after a debrief by the teachers in SST, we were dismissed and were left to worry whether we got selected or not. I should get my results in about a month's time, on 31st August. Wish me luck!

Friday, July 30, 2010

I have to say that the film was good, with its special effects controlling most of the film. But however, i feel that the storyline of the movie was a little too simple. A high school nerd known as Dave has been chosen by sorcerer Balthazar Blake ( i spelled it correctly, didn't i?) to wear the dragon ring and be his apprentice. Then, the "bad guy" of the film was this guy called Horvath, and he wants to free his master, Morgana, from a prison that Balthazar kept her in. So after a long chasing around New York City, Morgana is finally freed, and Balthazar is killed. However, Dave, the apprentice, masters the use of magic and fights against Morgana. When all hope seemed lost, Dave made a makeshift Tesla coil and destroyed Morgana. Then, Dave uses electricity to revive Balthazar (like that cardioelectric...uh...whatever thing that zaps the heart to restart it). Then Balthazar wakes up and then there's a "Happily Ever After". Kinda cliche, i think. Nevertheless, i thought it was a good film, and there was some good humour in it. I think i would rate this show a 7.5/10. Good, but could use some improvements.

Today i just created this blog, customized it and such. This weekend, I will be going for the SST science camp for entry to SST. I'm kind of both excited and nervous, as this is my last shot to get to SST. (SST is 100% DSA, see.) I want to get to SST as it teaches through applied learning, not reading textbooks. I would rather perform my own experiments than read about it in a book. And best of all, each student will be issued an Apple Macbook! That's cool, assuming i'm only 12!